Overton Co. Fire Tower Nominated to National Register of Historic Places

Overton County’s Twinton Fire Lookout Tower was unanimously voted to the National Register of Historic Places last week.

The nomination delayed by the Tennessee State Review Board earlier this year citing a need for more historical significance. Historic Preservation Specialist Rebecca Schmitt said they added additional information about the tower serving a crucial role in preserving the mining and timber industries in Overton County.

“The area of Overton County and Fentress County is very dependent historically on the mining industry as well as the timber industry,” Schmitt said. “It would not be good for Tennesseans historically if a fire wiped all of that out because it would pretty much destroy livelihoods, so we added that to the nomination.”

Schmitt said this process of getting the fire towers nominated has been going on since 2014. The Twinton Fire Lookout Tower was constructed in the 1930s as part of a state-wide program to build lookout towers throughout the state to monitor the safety of the surrounding areas.

Schmitt said that National Register nominations establish that places are historically significant and worthy of preservation.

“We always hope that these nominations are useful to local people–whether it’s local government or the state government or whoever it may be–to understand that this is a place that is very significant historically,” Schmitt said. “It says something about Tennessee’s history and it should be preserved, and hopefully people will recognize that.”

Schmitt said the next step is sending the nomination to the National Park Service for review, and they expect to hear back in about two months.